Banking exec says “Let it go”

I’ve got to hand it to Laurie Krupa, managing director and head of global wealth and investment management banking for Bank of America.

I had the opportunity to hear her speak Thursday at the fourth annual Women in Banking Conference with the New Jersey Bankers Association in Somerset, and her words continue to resonate with me:

“Let me assure you, you cannot do it all.”

Oh, yeah? WATCH ME. (As I turn around in defiance and promptly fall on my face.)

Clearly, Krupa makes a strong point — one that we all desperately need to hear and remind ourselves of every day.

If you have children, a television, an interest in the arts — or a pulse — I probably don’t need to explain why this year’s mantra has been “Let it go.” I’m guessing more than a few of you know the lyrics — and yes, I, too, sing it in my car like I’m Idina Menzel herself.

But while “Frozen” may be teaching our daughters supremely better life lessons than the ones we once learned from Disney, I think it’s important to remember that we adults are often the ones who need to “let it go” more.

Krupa put it best when she said, “Something must always take the toll … there’s imbalance in order to achieve balance and you’ve just got to be okay with it.”

Calling her career more of a winding and dipping path than a line, Krupa explained why she once took a pay cut and accepted a lower-ranking position in order to relocate from Boston to New Jersey to be closer to her friends and family.

“I knew what was most important in my life at that point — and my career was not it.”

She went on to speak about her experiences caring for her mother’s dementia and her father’s Parkinson’s while adopting a 1-year-old daughter from Russia and building a career as a highly successful woman in the finance industry.

In my opinion, that’s far too much for any one person to handle.

Krupa certainly reminded me (and hopefully all of you) how important it is to prioritize and realize what it is you can take time away from work so you can dedicate it to something else.

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Meg Fry

Meg Fry covers manufacturing and retail. Meg joins NJBIZ with past production experience in the arts, film and television. She continues to write and market her own spec scripts and screenplays. You can contact her at megf@njbiz.com or @MegFry3 on Twitter.

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